Objectives of the service
The SITH (Satellite Image Authenticity) service addresses critical challenges faced by Earth Observation (EO) data users, including the risk of data tampering, manipulation, and injection of false information across the entire value chain, which can compromise decision-making processes in commercial sectors or government.
By verifying data at each stage of the value chain, along with trustworthiness evaluations to assess the reliability of data providers, SITH helps stakeholders rely on EO data for any decision-making.
The service integrates seamlessly into existing EO data workflows via a REST API, ensuring minimal operational disruption while providing robust security.
The objective of SITH is to increase data security and transparency, secure decision-making processes, compatibility with incoming legislation and the creation of a unique protective umbrella for the entire value chain.
Users and their needs
The service targets entities within the entire EO data ecosystem, especially EO data providers, processors, and EO data consumers (end-users).
User Communities & Needs:
- EO Data Providers: Require verifiable data integrity and protection against unauthorized modifications during transmission.
- EO Data Processors: Need traceability tools ensuring data lineage and compliance with evolving European cybersecurity and AI regulations.
- EO Data Consumers: Depend on secure, tamper-proof information for critical decision-making in national security, disaster management, and intelligence analysis.
Key Requirements:
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Data Integrity and Authenticity
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Provenance Tracking
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Regulatory Compliance
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Seamless Integration
Challenges:
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Technical Complexity: The EO value chain typically consists of dozens of entities with varying cybersecurity standards, communicating with each other via open networks that are vulnerable to eavesdropping and the injection of manipulated EO material.
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Stakeholder Engagement: Cybersecurity is a relatively new topic for many space engineers and commercial space companies. Demonstrating the value of cybersecurity solutions can be challenging, especially for companies that are not regulated and, therefore, lack motivation to protect their space and ground assets.
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Evolution of Legislation: New and complex cybersecurity legislation is being introduced, yet many entities within the EO value chain lack the internal capabilities to achieve compliance.
World/Europe/CZ
Service/ system concept
SITH is a scalable, cloud-deployed service that can be integrated seamlessly with existing workflows to mitigate risks associated with EO data counterfeiting or manipulation.
It serves each entity throughout the EO data value chain to authenticate data at every step and trace data from its origin to the final processing product.
The following development tasks are covered in this project:
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Data signature: provides a cryptographic proof of authenticity and integrity of a particular piece of data, allowing the data consumer (next in the chain) to check the data source and verify that the file was not altered.
This service relies on a keyless signature scheme, based on one-way hash functions instead of private/public key pairs, as it features resistance against the threat of practical quantum computers and easier integration compared to Public Key Infrastructure.
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Trace of provenance: along with data signature, SITH provides the ability to trace each processing step throughout the value chain, allowing EO data consumers to “walk back” the history of every piece of EO information, and match this provenance against the list of their trusted EO entities. Besides, data producers and processors can use this trace for auditability purposes.
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Trustworthiness evaluation: on top of the trace of provenance – that is, the list of entities that constitute the supply chain for a piece of EO data – SITH proposes an evaluation of the trustworthiness of these entities, based on background checks and certifications.
This can allow EO data consumers to widen their data supply chain without increasing the risk of consuming forged or manipulated data.
Space Added Value
The projected solution leverages space-based data as the core asset, focusing on ensuring data authenticity, integrity, and traceability across the entire EO data value chain. The space asset involved is satellite imagery acquired from EO missions, specifically targeting high-value data streams vulnerable to tampering and cyber threats.
Current Status
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Proposed project logo, project one-pager
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Designed high-level, interactive questionnaire for user needs gathering
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Created 50+ sales leads including relevant personnel and contacts
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Derived user requirements and system requirements of collected user needs
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Proposed user workflow diagrams
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Designed the first iteration of GUI wireframe
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Prepared SW development environment
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Performed selection of suitable SW libraries and algorithms
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Prepared AWS environment including API gateway, database engine, lambda function, EC2 instance
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Finished all necessary paperwork with World From Space
Prime Contractor(s)
Subcontractor(s)
